Children, in particular, have long had an affinity for small furry animals, and it is not uncommon for parents—typically after much pestering—to allow their children to keep such animals as pets. A typical bargain struck between parents and children is that the children in question can have such an animal as a pet only if they undertake to clean out the animal's cage on a regular basis.
Whilst the child's interest in the animal is maintained such bargains tend work well, but it is often the case that the child loses interest whereupon it falls to the parents to clean out the animal's cage. The parents may not be particularly interested in the animal, and in some instances the parents may have an active dislike of the animal in question.
In such circumstances, the parents are faced with having to come into contact with an animal that they are not particularly fond of on a regular basis, and this can often be quite traumatic for the parent. In extreme cases, the parent's dislike of the animal may cause them to neglect the animal, or even to seek to re-home the animal with another family, and this can have repercussions for the well being of the animal in question.
Currently available enclosures for small animals tend to exacerbate such problems in that it is often the case that one cannot access the cage to clean it out without coming into contact with the animal. It would therefore be an advantage if an enclosure could be provided that enabled the animal to be segregated in one part of the enclosure whilst the other part is cleaned.
Another problem associated with traditional animal enclosures is that they are not particularly attractive to look at. Since such enclosures are generally on view in a household, it would be preferable for the enclosure to be more attractive, in particular to look more like a piece of furniture.
One previously proposed enclosure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,534. The enclosure disclosed in this patent is from the well-known Rotastak™ family of enclosures, and comprises a round main housing that is coupled to an upper chamber by a climbing tube that projects into the main housing. The main housing is in two sections that are fitted together so that the top section can rotate relative to the bottom section. The floor of the bottom section of the main housing includes a boss that projects into the main housing, and the top section can be rotated relative to the bottom section so that the tube coupled to the upper chamber aligns with the boss. In this position an animal in the upper chamber cannot get into the main housing (and vice versa).
Whilst this arrangement does indeed function adequately to confine the animal to one chamber or the other, it will be apparent that the keeper of the animal cannot disassemble the main housing for cleaning when the animal is in the upper chamber, as the animal will then be able to escape. Since this chamber is the chamber most likely to be soiled by the animal, this represents a significant disadvantage.
One aim of the present invention is to address these shortcomings in the prior art.